A Person is a Person, No Matter How Small
by FirePyr
Summary: See Inside for Prompt / "A person's a person, no matter how small," Horton says. Will glances down at Nico, grinning. "Guess what, Nico? A person's a person, no matter how small." / Fluffy. After the war. Solangelo.
**Prompt:** Imagine your OTP watching Horton Hears a Who and when Horton says "A person's a person, no matter how small," person B, the taller one in the relationship, looks over at A and smirks, repeating Horton's line. Person A proceeds to glare at B and elbows them in the side.

 **Title:** A Person is a Person, No Matter How Small

 **Number in Collection:** Three

 **Title of Collection:** Solangelo Drabbles

 **Summary:** See Inside for Prompt / "A person's a person, no matter how small," Horton says. Will glances down at Nico, grinning. "Guess what, Nico? A person's a person, no matter how small." / Fluffy. After the war. Solangelo

 **Notes:** Can be read as a standalone. Slight OOC

* * *

"NICO!"

Nico chokes on his drink as Jason and Percy turn to him with interested faces. "Not a word," he threatens, setting his cup down and searching for a shadow to make his escape.

"I didn't say anything," Percy replies neutrally, unable to keep the grin from his face.

"Shut up. I can see it on your faces." Nico is just about to slip under the table – because it's midday, and _would it kill anyone for just one shadow?_ – and wrap the shadows around himself when he's jerked upwards by a hand on his collar.

"Where are you going?" the owner of the hand asks, acting all innocent.

"Jason!"

"Nico! There you are!"

Nico glares at Jason before shaking himself loose, brushing imaginary dust from his clothes. He glances at the sky. "Just strike me down now."

"Careful," Percy says, stepping from the bench as he finishes his sandwich. "He might just take you up on that."

The sky rumbles in agreement, and Nico casts a suspicious look at it. "You won't let your father kill me, will you, Jason?"

"I'll try, but I wouldn't push the boundaries."

The cause of all Nico's troubles finally reaches them, panting with a bag slung carelessly across his shoulders. Will Solace: Head medic and the most annoying person Nico has ever met in his life, which is saying something because Nico knows _Percy_. Blond hair flops over bright blue eyes as Will flashes him a bright smile.

Will Solace: Head medic, the most annoying person in Camp, and also Nico's largest crush.

It isn't fair, how – just when he had gotten over Percy – Will comes in with his entirely to happy personality, worming past Nico's walls with no trouble. Heh, maybe _worming_ isn't the best word because now he's got an image of Will stuck in a worm costume trying to cross camp. Not to mention a mental image of Will's butt in the air.

 _Definitely_ not the best image for now.

But he can't deny that it wasn't a _bad_ image, per se.

And that scares him more than he would admit.

"What do you want, Solace?"

"Look!" Will shows him the contents of his bag, and Nico can see DVDs in them. "They've arrived!"

"DVDs," Nico says blandly. "You wanted to show me DVDs."

Will gives him a sort of frown – _was there such thing as a lopsided frown?_ – and shakes his head. "Well, yeah, but I also came to invite you to a movie night at the Apollo cabin." He glances up at Percy and Jason. "You guys are invited too. It's a Dr. Seuss marathon."

"There's only four movies," Percy points out. "Not much of a marathon."

"Yeah, well, we have children here that won't make it past a few movies, plus, Chiron was only willing to push back the curfew for a few hours. Frankly, if I had my way, we wouldn't be watching _the Cat in the Hat_ , but what do you do when you're outvoted."

Jason and Percy exchange a look, and suddenly, Nico has a bad feeling in his stomach. Jason grins. "Sounds fun, but we can't. Double date, you see."

Why hasn't Nico heard about this? _Wait…_ He shoots Jason a panicked look, but Jason is set on ignoring him, smirking. "But Nico is free tonight."

Will turns to him hopefully, and there's no way Nico can decline the invitation with those blue eyes staring at him. He closes his eyes, vowing to kill both Jason and Percy, especially when he can hear Percy snicker. "Fine, I'll come. What time?"

"Eight, so you'll be missing the bonfire."

Nico nods, absentmindedly ordering a skeleton hand to reach up and grab Jason's and Percy's ankles. Their terrified yelps are worth it. "See you then."

Will sends him another smile and bounces off, scampering to the next camper. Nico can't help but be reminded of a golden retriever. Percy is smirking at him, having shaken off the bony hand. He opens his mouth, but Nico cuts him off before he can speak. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"I know what you were going to say."

"What was I going to say?"

Nico narrows his eyes dangerously, and Percy backs away, holding his hands up. "All right, point taken," the green-eyed boy mutters. "I'm just gonna find Annabeth now."

The three walk into the shade cast by the shadows. "Yeah, you wouldn't want her to be surprised by the double date," Nico says, enjoying the way both boys wince. "Perhaps I should tell them about it."

He shadow travels away before they can say anything.

* * *

"Will, hurry up and open the door before I drop these!"

There's stumbling before the door opens. Nico thrusts half a handful of pillows and blankets to Will. "Here, help me with this. They're from Chiron."

They walk to the center of the room before Will dumps them on the ground. Nico gives him a confused look before doing the same. Will blinks. "What? It's a movie marathon. No one actually uses the beds, usually."

Nico shrugs, collapsing on a bed. "More room for me then."

"Excuse me, that's _my_ bed."

"Too bad, sucker."

Will retaliates by throwing a pillow on Nico's face. Nico's only response is a grunt before he places it under his head. "Hey, what's the deal about this Dr. Seuss anyway?" he asks, making conversation.

Will gasps, and Nico pries an eye open. "What?" the son of Hades asks. "What did I say?"

Will continues staring at him before shaking his head and petting Nico's arm. "Oh, you poor dear. How could you not know about Dr. Seuss?"

"Is it an American thing?"

"It's an all-over-the-world thing!"

"After my time, then," Nico says, and Will has to stop to think, because – _well_ – Nico might be right. Dr. Seuss may just be after Nico's time.

"After this," he promises. "I'll introduce you to Dr. Seuss and his books."

There's a knock on the door, and Will goes to open it. Instantly, the sound of tiny feet on wood sounds in the room. Nico sits up in time to see about ten children throw themselves on the pillows, shrieking delightfully. Will appears in his vision, smiling gently. "All right, settle down," he calls out, and the kids do as they are told.

They don't look older than seven – with round faces and gap-toothed smiles.

 _Demigods of the new generation_.

Nico watches with mixed feelings as the children push each other playfully, making themselves comfortable on the mess of blankets and pillows. Innocent eyes and faces – ones that weren't there to see the war. This was what they fought for, wasn't it? For the chance for demigods to live peacefully? Well, as peacefully as a demigod could live in a world of monsters.

Nico absentmindedly rubs the scars on his arms, remembering the Giant War two years ago. Was it really that long? Percy, Jason, and Annabeth are too old for camp anymore, but they still come to visit and to train a few classes. Sixteen feels like too young to have seen so much. Nico smiles, watching the dog – no, puppy – pile at the foot of the bed.

"Hey, Nico? Watch the kids for a while, all right? I'm gonna get in costume."

With that, Nico is left alone with the children, who are looking at him with curious, big eyes. He gulps.

* * *

Will opens the door to delighted laughing and shrieks. The children run around, some chasing a shadow puppy that prances around the room, and the others chased by a skeleton that merely throws them gently on one of the beds when it catches up. Honestly, they should be terrified, but somehow, there's a safe, homey environment around the room. Nico himself is propped on a few pillows, still on Will's bed as he supervises the events.

As the son of Apollo watches, a young girl no older than five walks up to Nico, lifting her arms demandingly. Panic briefly crosses the other demigod, and Will is about to step in when Nico's eyes soften and he picks the girl up, setting her on his lap. With a wave of a hand, shadows wrap together in a bunny that hops over to the girl. She gasps before reaching out gingerly, a smile stretching across her face.

Will clears his throat, and everyone turns to him. The kids laugh at the costume, and Nico snorts, amusement in dark eyes. Will sticks his tongue out at him before holding out a plate of cookies. "Now, who wants one?"

Nico returns the skeleton to the Underworld and dissolves the shadow creatures as Will hands out a cookie to the children, settling them in the blankets and placing the first movie in – _the Cat in the Hat_. When each of the children have a cookie and a glass of milk, he starts the movie and sits on the bed next to Nico.

"Get your own bed, Solace."

"Hush you, this _is_ my bed."

Nico just rolls his eyes, but he does move to the side when Will sprawls next to him. "Where is everyone else?" he asks, just to have a small boy shush him.

Will laughs at Nico's bewildered look. "Later, I'm thinking. I placed a sign at the door, telling them just to come in when they want."

Nico grunts before reaching over for a cookie. Will grabs the plate from his lap before he can reach it, holding it out of Nico's reach. " _My_ _precious_ ," he hisses.

Nico stares at Will for a second before snickering, a hand covering his mouth. "You're such a nerd," he says.

Will tells him to shut up and gives him a cookie.

* * *

Three and a half movies later, and the kids are sound asleep. _Horton Hears a Who!_ plays on the screen. "A person's a person, no matter how small," Horton says.

Will glances down at Nico, grinning. "Guess what, Nico? A person's a person, no matter how small."

Nico just sits there for a second before turning slowly to face Will, needing to crane his head up a little as he shoots the other a death glare. Just as slowly, he turns back to the screen, the lights casting a glow on his face.

Fifteen minutes later, Will is just thinking he's safe when an elbow juts out, hitting him painfully in the ribs. Will would find a bruise there in the morning, but he didn't regret any of it.

Especially when both Nico and Will end up falling asleep before the end of the movie, cuddling together in Will's bed.

Nico is gone in the morning, but Kayla hands him a picture of the both of them snuggling when he wakes up. Will refuses to tell Austin why he's so red.


End file.
